Donald Trump and controversies go hand-in-hand

New Delhi: Donald Trump loves courting controversies whether it was during his campaign trail or after taking over the US presidency from his predecessor Barack Obama on Friday. Even as the world was absorbing the ramifications of his inaugural speech “Buy American, Hire American”, the US President berated the protests carried out against him by millions of people in the US and abroad.

An early Sunday tweet from Trump’s personal twitter handle @realDonaldTrump belittled protests “Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.”

More than two million people are estimated to have taken part in the women-led marches organized in the United States and around the world to defend women’s rights and oppose an array of policy stances from the new president.

Since Trump announced his candidature for the Republican Party presidential nomination on 16 June 2015, he spared none and waged a campaign built on mocking and insulting people or issuing shocking statements on almost everything.

Here is a lowdown of controversies involving US President Donald Trump, who has polarized the world like no other White House occupant.

Against Media: The first day of the Trump administration began with their all-out attack on the media and accusing journalist of being biased against the new President. It all started with Trump speaking at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on 21 January: “I have a running war with the media.” He also accused journalists of underestimating the number of people who turned out Friday for his swearing-in, as Reuters reported.

Later, Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on Fox News Sunday: The point is not the crowd size. The point is the attacks and the attempt to delegitimize this president in one day. And we’re not going to sit around and take it.”

¦ Inaugural Speech: The US President’s message was clear and consistent, “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.”

¦ Hillary email hack: Almost a week before Trump’s inauguration, the US debated (and still is) the news of a 35-page intelligence dossier that reportedly contains serious allegations about close links between the Trump camp and the Kremlin. Also, that Russians have compromising details on Trump, which could expose him to blackmail.

¦ On Women: On numerous instances, Trump has berated women in his trademark style whether it was during campaign or even before. Labeling “liars” to all those women who accused him of sexual misconduct at a rally in Pennsylvania on 22 October last year, Trump had threatened, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”

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Trump was accused of calling former Miss Universe Alicia Machado “Miss Piggy and Miss Housekeeping”. In early August, Trump commented about Fox News’ Megyn Kelly in a CNN interview, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” As the Republican presidential candidate, Trump berated GOP candidate Carly Fiorina in a Rolling Stone interview on 9 September. He said, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!”

¦ Senator John McCain: During his campaign, Trump did not shy away mocking the US Army war hero and a fellow Republican at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. He said, “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”

¦ Mexico: US’s southern neighbour has been Trump’s favourite punching bag ever since he launched his campaign on 16 June 2015 at his New York headquarters targeting immigrants from the Latin American country. He declared, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

¦ Outsourcing: During his campaign, Trump had unequivocally stated that his administration will prevent outsourcing as well as revamp the H1B visa programme that allows US companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers at the cost of locals. Trump’s transition team is already up to task on that.

Also read: In defence of globalization

¦ Muslims: The essence of Trump’s policy on Muslims came out during his speech in South Carolina wherein he called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on”

¦ Barack Obama: While Trump thanked outgoing President Barack Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama for their role in the transition in his inauguration speech, the US President didn’t even spare him during the campaign. At a rally in Florida, Trump called Obama and Hillary as the founder of the terror-group Islamic State, “He is the founder of ISIS. He’s the founder of ISIS, OK? He’s the founder. He founded ISIS and I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.”